The Cả River ( Laotian: Nam Khan, Vietnamese: Sông Cả) or better known as Lam River (sông Lam in Vietnamese) is a river in mainland

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Etymology

Its name sông Cả ("the first river") in modern-

Vietnamese language Vietnamese () is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language Speech, spoken primarily in Vietnam where it is the official language. It belongs to the Vietic languages, Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is s ...

is originated from Nam-khan ("the big river", Nậm-cắn) in the old-

Laotian language Lao (Lao: , ), sometimes referred to as Laotian, is the official language of Laos and a significant language in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Spoken by over 3 million people in ...

. However, it was called usually as sông Rung ("the Krung river") by indigenous people. This word has therefore been signed in Chinese characters as sông Lam or Lam-giang ("the blue river", K'lam, Kẻ Lam of Khả-lam in ancient Annamese language).

History

It originates in the Loi Mountains of

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, crossing Laos's

Xiangkhouang Province Xiangkhouang (Lao alphabet, Lao: wikt:ຊຽງຂວາງ, ຊຽງຂວາງ, meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavi ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

's Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh provinces and empties into the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin ( northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern co ...

, on the North Central Coast of Vietnam, after a 512 km journey. The Cả River zone is classified as 300 km by the Vietnam Geographical Survey.Journal of Geology: Issues 9-12 Cục địa chất Việt Nam - 1997 "2. 7. Cả River zone: This zone lies along the Cả River and Rào Nay basins, with a length of 300 km" The Bến Thủy bridge, crossing into Bến Thủy,

Vinh Vinh () is the capital of Nghệ An province and an economic and cultural center of North-Central Vietnam. A key point in the East–West economic corridor linking Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, the city is situated in the Southeast of ...

, crosses the Cả River on its Cửa Hội estuary.

References

Geography of Xiangkhouang province Rivers of Nghệ An province Rivers of Hà Tĩnh province International rivers of Asia Gulf of Tonkin Rivers of Laos Rivers of Vietnam {{Vietnam-river-stub

Etymology

History

See also

References